free cheese

The KNSV – the Netherlands’ governing body for sailing – finally sat down to review the AC jury’s findings on Oracle Team USA king post sensation Dirk “Cheese” De Ridder last week, and in a move that surprised precisely no one, they recommended no further punishment for Holland’s highest paid sail trimmer. You’ll recall the AC Jury found De Ridder a terrible witness, and in their findings, seemed convinced he was lying to them. From the findings: ”The Jury is comfortably satisfied that:

1) Dirk gave the instruction to add the weight to the kind post;

2) Dirk knew the weight had been added;

3) Dirk knew it was a breach of the rules; and

4) Dirk did not tell the truth in the hearing in this regard.”

It seems as thought he KNSV didn’t actually conduct their own hearing; they felt that ‘investigating’ the AC Jury’s report was plenty, and they decided poor Dirk had been penalized enough. From their report:

The Zeilraad further considered that being excluded from further participation in any role in the 34 America’s Cup for a gross breach of a rule and of good sportsmanship, combined with the world wide publicity on TV/radio, Internet and newspapers, is by itself, a severe penalty. Having considered all evidence the Zeilraad finds that it is not appropriate to impose an additional penalty.

After this investigation the Zeilraad finds that it is not appropriate to conduct a hearing and decides that no further action will be taken in this matter by the Dutch MNA.